Take for example the well-known passage from the Declaration of Independence: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

George Orwell -- 1984

"I’m just tryin’ to get along without shovin’ nobody around." ... He waited to let the whole emphasis of the preceding passage disappear and be forgotten.

John Steinbeck -- The Grapes of Wrath

What bothered Valentine most was when her column got syndicated into several other regional newsnets, and Father started reading it and quoting from it at table. "Finally, a man with some sense," he said. Then he quoted some of the passages Valentine hated worst in her own work.

Orson Scott Card -- Ender’s Game

Since the disastrous episode of the pixies, Professor Lockhart had not brought live creatures to class. Instead, he read passages from his books to them, and sometimes reenacted some of the more dramatic bits.

J.K. Rowling -- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Chastity and moral purity were qualities McCandless mulled over long and often. Indeed, one of the books found in the bus with his remains was a collection of stories that included Tolstoy’s "The Kreutzer Sonata," in which the nobleman-turned-ascetic denounces "the demands of the flesh." Several such passages are starred and highlighted in the dog-eared text, the margins filled with cryptic notes printed in McCandless’s distinctive hand.

Jon Krakauer -- Into the Wild

I have seen him tie up a lame young woman, and whip her with a heavy cowskin upon her naked shoulders, causing the warm red blood to drip; and, in justification of the bloody deed, he would quote this passage of Scripture—"He that knoweth his master’s will, and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes."

Frederick Douglass -- The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

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Every child was made to stand at the front of the room and read from a passage the teacher gave them.

Markus Zusak -- The Book Thief

They could remember and repeat long passages of human speech, so they were sent into rebel areas to capture our words and return them to the Capitol.

Suzanne Collins -- Catching Fire

I felt a slight shock at the touch, and thought of an Old Testament passage—"For Jacob’s skin was smooth, while his brother Esau was a hairy man."

Diana Gabaldon -- Outlander

"There’s another passage in a different book I’d like to share with you," he said.

R.J. Palacio -- Wonder

He’d gone back to my room for my school copy of Walden and was reading aloud a lengthy passage that bolstered some point he was trying to make.

Donna Tartt -- The Goldfinch

Leo Tolstoy, "family happiness" passage highlighted in one of the books found with Chris McCandless’s remains.

Jon Krakauer -- Into the Wild

Who can read that passage, and be insensible to its pathos and sublimity?

Frederick Douglass -- The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

In a short introductory passage, it outlined the kind of material to be covered in the following twenty pages.

Markus Zusak -- The Book Thief

Henry David Thoreau, Walden, or Life in the Woods — passage highlighted in one of the books found with Chris McCandless’s remains.

Jon Krakauer -- Into the Wild

The last passage looked like this: We at the Bayern Cemetery Association hope that we have informed and entertained you in the workings, safety measures, and duties of grave digging.

Markus Zusak -- The Book Thief

...he handed it to me to read. One passage of it, at least, gave me a thrill of pleasure.

Bram Stoker -- Dracula

Still, he sent Alan pages, with passages highlighted.

Dave Eggers -- A Hologram for the King

There’s a passage in Thoreau: "Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in."

James Patterson -- 1st to Die

Boris Pasternak, Doctor Zhivago — passage highlighted in one of the books found with Chris McCandless’s remains.

Jon Krakauer -- Into the Wild

"Need for a purpose" had been written in McCandless’s hand in the margin above the passage.

Jon Krakauer -- Into the Wild

I looked over the paper.... It did not convey much to me, until I reached a passage where it described small puncture wounds on their throats.

Bram Stoker -- Dracula

She would read him passages from the diary of some distant relative, a woman living in the woods of what was now western Massachusetts.

Dave Eggers -- A Hologram for the King

And in the same passage he marked, "The repugnance to animal food is not the effect of experience, but is an instinct."

Jon Krakauer -- Into the Wild

Boris Pasternak, Doctor Zhivago — passage highlighted in one of the books found with Christopher McCandless’s remains; underscoring by McCandless.

Jon Krakauer -- Into the Wild

On July 2, McCandless finished reading Tolstoy’s "Family Happiness," having marked several passages that moved him: He was right in saying that the only certain happiness in life is to live for others….

Jon Krakauer -- Into the Wild

While reading up on his life in preparation for this award, I came upon a passage that he wrote that seemed particularly consistent with the themes I touched on earlier, themes I’ve been ruminating upon all year long.

R.J. Palacio -- Wonder

He had just finished reading Doctor Zhivago, a book that incited him to scribble excited notes in the margins and underline several passages: Lara walked along the tracks following a path worn by pilgrims and then turned into the fields.

Jon Krakauer -- Into the Wild

This Narrative contains many affecting incidents, many passages of great eloquence and power; but I think the most thrilling one of them all is the description DOUGLASS gives of his feelings, as he stood soliloquizing respecting his fate, and the chances of his one day being a freeman, on the banks of the Chesapeake Bay—viewing the receding vessels as they flew with their white wings before the breeze, and apostrophizing them as animated by the living spirit of freedom.

Frederick Douglass -- The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Even Proust — there’s a famous passage where Odette opens the door with a cold, she’s sulky, her hair is loose and undone, her skin is patchy, and Swann, who has never cared about her until that moment, falls in love with her because she looks like a Botticelli girl from a slightly damaged fresco.